For at least one night, Dwight Howard could say the move was justified. He can say he made the right call and back it up.

We’ll see what the future holds, but Howard looked healthy, moved well, grabbed 26 rebounds, was a strong defensive presence and chipped in 17 points in the Rockets season-opening win. He looked like his old, dominant self.

He played in a way that will just piss Laker fans off — and the Rockets looked formidable.

“When I stood there and looked around, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got an amazing opportunity here, and I’m not going to let it go to waste,” Howard told Yahoo Sports late Wednesday in a quiet corner of the locker room. It hit me there: This is what I chose. This is what I decided to do.”

He smiled a knowing smile, nodded and repeated himself.

“I’m not going to let it go to waste,” Howard said.

He’s got an opportunity, that much is certain. This should be a top four roster in the West with the flexibility to make moves to move it higher. (The Omer Asik/Howard pairing was not that strong last night, if it continues to be that way Asik will get moved.) James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, there is balanced talent on this roster.

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The question is really “what happens when times get tough?” Howard has not dealt well with basketball adversity the past few years at all, it’s never been his strong suit. But it will come again — has he matured enough to deal with it and still be a force? Has he grown from all this?

Tine will tell. But for a night Howard gets to bask in the glow of having looked like he made the right call.